Chuck Palahniuk Quotes

Modern man lives under the illusion that he knows what he wants, while he actually wants what he is supposed to want.

Societies have been conditioned to believe that entertainers are just that, but I refuse to be put into the box of a puppet.

Remember, character is not of much value. What is valuable is consciousness - not conscience but consciousness. Conscience is created by the society. The more foolish you are, the more the society is able to create a conscience in you. It gives you an idea how to live your life. It manipulates you in a very subtle way. It hypnotizes you and conditions you. And the conditioning is so long that you forget completely that these are not your ideas.

I don’t like anything that’s got to be. I want to know why.

I want to describe myself, not be described by others.

He didn't know what he wanted. He only knew what he didn't want.

It's not just the emotional, intellectual, and physical gaps between you and money. The real gap is always between what you think you want and what you actually want, deep down.

People do whatever they want to do, y'know.

A thoroughly socialized person is one who desires only the rewards that others around him have agreed he should long for - rewards often grafted onto genetically programmed desires.A person who cannot override genetic instructions when necessary is always vulnerable..The solution is to gradually become free of societal rewards and learn how to substitute for them rewards that are under one's own powers.

A person whose desires and impulses are his own - are the expression of his own nature, as it has been developed and modified by his own culture - is said to have a character. One whose desires and impulses are not his own, has no character, no more than a steam-engine has character.

You see they could never, never understand that I live like I do because that's the way I want to live.

It is axiomatic that if we do not define ourselves for ourselves, we will be defined by others-for their use and to our detriment.

The difference between technology and slavery is that slaves are fully aware that they are not free

Can we ever break free of the devices and desires of our own hearts? Might not our conscience be telling us what we most want to hear?

You don't get to Define me, only I can Define me, all I wish from you is to recognize my Definition.

I knew all the rules but the rules did not know me.

. . . the great thing to learn about life is, first, not to do what you don't want to do, and, second, to do what you do want to do.

Do you know what happens with people who cannot govern themselves? That's right. Others come in to govern for them.

Frustration is a function of our expectations, and our expectations are often a reflection of the social mirror rather than our own values and priorities.

Nobody can make anybody be someone he or she doesn't want to be.

Every act is an act of self definition.

My child's first word was "more," but and it's all about, "I want." "I'm going to tell you what I want and what I don't want." It's about my desire to express my preferences. And that is really innate.

No matter how much you love someone, you still want to have you own way.

You know what? I don't care. I'm going to do what I want to do.

It isn't that we do what we want. It's that we're allowed to want at all.